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On a Royal Caribbean cruise that tenders in Villefranche. Royal Caribbean has an 8 hour 45 min. excursion that costs $164pp. You get 30 min. 'free time' at Nice, 30min. at Eze, and 1 hour in Monaco/MonteCarlo. Lunch is included at Eze at a 'local' restaurant.

Wondering how and if all of these sights can be seen do-it-yourself, how (transportation), and for approx. how much less?

What a rip off! I often see the fleet of coaches manoeuvring their way out of Villefranche but I had no idea they charged so much. Provided you are fairly adventurous you can do it yourself and have a much better time for a total cost of well under US$10 plus food.

I would advise as follows:

Bus 81 or 100 to Nice, 15 minutes, one euro. At bus station check times of buses to Eze before crossing the road and going into the old town, by far the most interesting part of the city. Walk through the narrow streets as far as the seafront. Have a coffee at one of the many outdoor cafes along the way and soak up the atmosphere.

Back to bus station. Bus 82 or 112 to Eze Village, 20 minutes, one euro. (Buses for Monaco leave from the same stop where you arrive from Nice.) Walk up the hill into the village. Stroll around and have a look at the magnificent view.

Bus 112 to Monaco, 15 minutes, one euro. Monaco is small and not hard to navigate. Look at the super yachts at the port and walk or bus up to Monte Carlo Ville for a quick view of the palace.

Bus 100 to Villefranche, 20 minutes, one euro.

The main things to watch out for are: There aren't many buses to Eze and even fewer from Eze to Monaco, so you need to be aware of bus times. Aim to get back to Villefranche about two hours before ship departure, so if you are delayed for any reason you won't be sweating about missing the ship.

You could do it the other way around, Vilefranche - Monaco - Eze -Nice. IMO Nice is much the more interesting place. One hour is enough to see Eze. You could lunch in any of the three places with scores of restaurants providing three courses for 12 euro up.

You will have a much, much better time than your shipmates who are being herded to places to buy tourist tat!

Thanks NiceLife. I was amused to see a grossly overwritten ad for a flat which neglects to mention that it is very close to what I guess will be the new sewage works just below the station. Could be vile indeed!

Thank you so much for your recommendation and thoughts. I sincerely appreciate it!

If I were to do Villefranche-Monaco first, is there a bus that does exactly that? If I saved Nice for last, I would be closer to the ship and perhaps have more time to poke around without being stressed regarding the time, right?

Also, is there someplace online that I can see a current bus schedule for that day we'll be there so I can kinda try to plan all out in advance? (April 22nd) And how about how to find bus stop once I get into the port?

Some French services are very slapdash on ther website maintenance and this one is soometimes unreliable. Not unlike public transport.

The 100 bus to Monaco and Nice is every 15 minutes so the timetable is a little academic. If they are packed full, which sometimes happens especially on boat days (you thought you were the only one?) they have a habit of not stopping to pick up more passengers so you might have to wait for another.

Personally I think trying to fit in all 3 places on public transport in one day is dodgy. What if there's a train strike and all the workers decide to use their cars or the bus? The bus journey between Nice and Villefranche may only be scheduled to take 20 mins, but there are regular hold ups and cancellations. So, if you work back from being back in Villefranche 2 hours before your ship leaves:

How long will it take you to get the tender off the ship to Villefranche quayside, from the quay to the bus stop? How long will it take you to find the bus stop in Monaco to get to Eze? I can tell you that the stop is 10 minutes uphill from the casino, but I know Monaco and won't go down the wrong street or have to ask directions. Maybe you won't, but if you do, it could add extra time to your journey. If you're near the palace on the rock, you'll have to negotiate streets, maybe buses, escalators and lifts to get to the stop.

IMHO, take the ship tour, or forget Eze, or pay for a taxi to take you directly to Eze (maybe around 30 euros), then get the bus to Monaco, then the train/bus to Nice. Alternatively, search the forums for recommendations for private guides.

Yes, the conseil genrale website gets 'tweaked' regularly and that makes the links break. The timetables are never down for longer than a day so if the links break i search around for the new web locations and there is always some minimal change

In this case the change has been to remove 'TAM' from the link due to the amalgamation of the TAM network and ligne d'azur to make the supergroup Ligne *S* d'azur

The ligne d'azur website currently name still works but there is also a mirror site with the new domaine including the 's' ie http://www.lignesdazur.com/